While waiting for DeanMurdoch or PilotNut to get the thread rolling with all the details, I thought I’d give a little scouting report on WSU after watching the tape of their game against Idaho played last night.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! There weren’t even enough chairs for all the players to sit on last night (it looked like WSU had 16 players), but three of them are from Australia, and two of them made the biggest impact of all on the game.

Aussie Brock Motum at 6-10/245 is an active hulk inside….he scored 26Aussie Dexter Kernich-Drew at 6-6 is a very active wing….he scored 15Yank D.J. Shelton at 6-10/250 (another of Derrick’s buddies from Citrus College) also hogs the lane….he scored 14

These three guys alone accounted for 55 of WSU’s 64 points last night. I don’t know if that’s how it is every night, but almost all their points came inside (44 in the paint), as WSU was only 3/15 from 3-pt….Shelton was 2/2.

UP better have their shooting shoes on and Riley better be feeling strong…..it’s going to be a beastly battle inside.

Brock is a future late first/early second round pick. He plays the 4 in their offense while Shelton is their center. Brock can stretch the defense and take you off the dribble. It will be interesting to see who guards him.

WSU doesnt have a true point guard. With the dismissal of Reggie Moore they have relied on Woolridge to fill that void. On top of that they are without Lacey who is working through an injury.

It will also give UP an opportunity to see how far along their offense has developed. Its one thing to execute against Lewis and Clark, another to run it against a Pac 12 team. NoPoNeighbor has made some valid points in other threads so hopefully the wrinkles are working themselves out. I do think there is merit to corrolating our shooting percentage to how and when the players are getting their opportunities. Reveno talked a bit about it during the pregame Tuesday so its on the "to do" list.

Is it crazy to think that Ehlers should be Nicholas' primary back-up, rather than J. Bailey? Both Nicholas and Ehlers are 6'7". Maybe Bailey is a better rebounder than Ehlers (?), but aside from that Ehlers seems to have the advantage in every other facet of the game. And if Ehlers were on the floor with van der Mars or Barker, we'd probably still be okay on the glass. I'd like to see that change made for the WSU game.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Is it crazy to think that Ehlers should be Nicholas' primary back-up, rather than J. Bailey? Both Nicholas and Ehlers are 6'7". Maybe Bailey is a better rebounder than Ehlers (?), but aside from that Ehlers seems to have the advantage in every other facet of the game. And if Ehlers were on the floor with van der Mars or Barker, we'd probably still be okay on the glass. I'd like to see that change made for the WSU game.

I don't know about the prospect of playing Ehlers against 6'10"/245 Motum (who plays the 4 according to oldtimer). Then again, I don't like the prospect of J Bailey matching up against him either.

GAME COVERAGE• Saturday’s game at Washington State will be televised live on the Pac-12 Network with JB Long and Lamar Hurd calling the action. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.• All Portland basketball games will be broadcast live on True Talk 800 AM, with a 30-minute pregame show. The audio simulcast and live game statistics will also be available on PortlandPilots.com.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE• The Cougars (4-3) are 4-0 at Beasley Coliseum this season following Wednesday’s 64-55 win over Idaho. • Senior F Brock Motum scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Washington State committed just four turnovers in the contest.• The Cougars also have wins over Eastern Washington (88-69), Utah Valley (72-49), Arkansas Pine-Bluff (66-38).• WSU has a road loss at Pepperdine (58-56, OT) and neutral site losses to Kansas (78-41) and Texas A&M (55-54).• Motum is the only WSU player averaging double figures (17.7), while Dexter Kernich-Drew adds 9.9 points per game.• Head coach Ken Bone is in his fourth year with the Cougars, after serving five years as head coach at Portland State. • Bone and the Cougars finished 19-18 overall last year and made a run to the CBI finals.

I might as well pad my stats a bit with my 3rd post in a row... to answer a previous question about a viewing location... I have not heard of any official gatherings, but my favorite sports bar in NoPo is Tom's pub on Lombard.... great pizza/food, good service and many many tv's, including a huge projection screen... not to mention being Pilot-friendly in the past!

PilotNut wrote:I might as well pad my stats a bit with my 3rd post in a row... to answer a previous question about a viewing location... I have not heard of any official gatherings, but my favorite sports bar in NoPo is Tom's pub on Lombard.... great pizza/food, good service and many many tv's, including a huge projection screen... not to mention being Pilot-friendly in the past!

Tom's is definitely my sports bar of choice! Good beer selection (no Pliny, though), decent food, GREAT happy hour food specials, lots of TV's and they're pretty accommodating in making sure you can watch the game you want.

Boy, is THAT nice to hear. Pilots down 41-33 early in the second after falling down big time in the first. Found an Internet stream of this game because as you can imagine, finding the Pac-12 Networks in this country is a little difficult (and from what I hear, it's also difficult even in YOUR country).

Rogers, van der Mars, Barker, and Thieleke were non factors. We easily could have lost by 30 if WSU hadn’t put in the second team for the last 5+ minutes.

Only 9 turnovers, but the shooting from all points on the court was abysmal, and the team could not seem to block-out or were out of position for rebounds. If UP can’t rebound or score in the paint, UP will not win, regardless of how well Ryan shoots from outside.

Proud of the team’s performance against New Mexico…..totally disheartened by tonight’s play. Out hustled in the first half, and out performed in the second, I found very few positives.

Obviously Ryan’s play was superb for the most part; David was steady at PG; the Bailey brothers both played very physical, but KB is still too out of control too often. Oskars is starting to get a good feel for the game and is making strides enough to get some serious minutes in future games. Bryce looked confident and in control; for his sake, I just hope his “concussion” is mild.